Tag: book blog

Phantom Architecture by Philip Wilkinson

Although I started this several months ago I didn’t really start reading it properly until last week. I had previously dipped in and out of it. But once i devoted my time to it, what a very interesting and enthralling read, some very quirky, interesting and downright strange designs. It would have been interesting to see some of them come fruition like a giant pyramid crypt in London for 5 million bodies, or a giant elephant in Paris. If they had been built I wonder how they would be perceived today?

A great selection and quite interesting, not a difficult or dense read at all. A bit more details would be nice but a minor quibble. The book has some great illustrations and photographs from more modern times of the models and plans for the buildings and communities.

It does make me curious what contemporary designs are ongoing that will end up future phantoms. Perhaps the proposed Neom in Saudi Arabia will be a future Phantom or drastically different to how we are expecting it today.

Reading Fatigue

Its been a very lean month so far for me in terms of my reading. I’m normally 3 or 4 books deep by now but this month I haven’t been feeling it yet. I don’t think there is a specific reason though maybe I’m watching more TV or playing video games. I don’t feel as though I am but since BST (British Summer Time) I have barely read.

I think also losing my Kindle Reading Streak affected it, I was trying to maintain it and one day it didn’t register my reading and it pissed me off no end. I almost got to 200 consecutive days. I was devastated lol. I nurtured that like a newborn chick and was super pissed because I had read and it wasn’t logged. Fucking Amazon servers!

I do intend to read and I have read but barely made a dent in anything. Could be fatigue or just having a break and reset. I do hope I can kindle the reading flame again, I do miss it greatly. Hopefully it picks up for the rest of the month.

It hasn’t stopped me buying books, though I have found less of interest recently in the kindle deals. I used to find one almost daily, recently though I barely buy 4 a month from the Daily Deal.

I just wanted a little rant to keep this blog ongoing or else I will neglect it again.

Showstopper (Peter Diamond #21) by Peter Lovesey

Having just finished my 22nd book of the year (of the month) it seems a nice time to start my regular posts.

Since last year I have been reading a detective fiction series by the British author Peter Lovesey, the series in named after the main character DCI Peter Diamond. It is set in Bath and the surrounding areas and luckily they are places I have been to quite often so an added bonus is that I can picture the scenes and find myself realising I have sat in the exact same spot as our fictional detective. First time in detective fiction that has happened to me, most of my fiction is translated.

The book I just finished is called Showstopper and is the 21st and as of now final entry in the series. I do hope there is more to come as on the whole it is very enjoyable series. Some of the more recent books were not up to par but generally they are usually 4/5 to me.

This one follows the filming of a television series and so-called jinx where several persons involved have come to sticky ends. A very interesting case and plenty of red herrings and misdirection – I do wonder how someone could think of some of the plots and goings on, its beyond me!

The characters and locations are the true stars of the books, they bring the book to life and as I said above Bath is described that you are there (may even have been there too) and the characters are a mixed bunch with the old school boss who is no nonsense, the assistant who is is right hand man and various other foils who add to the depth.

No book in the series is the same, they are all unique and different and I would say can be read as stand-alone but some events are referred to as the series progresses, most notably diamond’s marital status.

I am happy to have read this book, but also sad I have finished the series at the time of writing this. Here’s hoping there is more Peter Diamond to come, thankfully there is plenty of works by Peter Lovesey to get into.

First blog post

First blog post

Hello and welcome to my blog, as of the time of writing this I have no idea where I am going wih this.I plan to use this site as a place to post my thoughts about the books I read, in hindsight I should have done this seven months ago when I started my Goodreads Reading Challenge. Better late than never I suppose.

For this years Reading Challenge I decided to be modest and set an initial target of 12 books for 2017. Subsequently I have exceeded it so raised the target to 18, I am currently at 15 books read so will likely raise it yet again to either 24 or 30. Considering I slacked last year in my reading, I am pleased to see me making good progress and experiencing new genres.

Currently I am reading a lot of Japanese literature, Yasunari Kawabata in particular. I am not sure why I got into this genre but I certainly am glad that I did. I suppose that is a blog post in itself, so far I have read several books by both him and others and thoroughly enjoyed them, even found a novel that is in my all time favourite reads.

Enough waffling for now, I’m not sure when I will get around to it but soon I will start using this site